The Internet, fueled by the popularity of the Web, has exhibited significant growth over the past few years. At present, to access the information on the Web, users typically use standard computer equipment, such as a home personal computer with a display and modem, and an Internet connection.
There have been efforts to expand the number of users and the ease with which they access the Internet. For example, several companies have developed television set-top boxes that permit users to browse or “surf” the Internet from their television sets. In addition, communication companies have joined with software developers to allow mobile communication devices such as cellular telephones, pagers, smart phones and personal digital assistants to access some features of the Internet.
Presently, several types of Internet connections are available. For example, to use an Internet connection from Internet Service Providers (ISPs), the user communicates with a computer at the ISP's facility using a modem and standard telephone line or broadband cable. The ISP's computer in turn provides the user with access to the Internet. Through this Internet connection, the user can access information on the Web using a computer program called a “Web browser.” The Web browser is a software program that allows a user to view the data received from an Internet site location. To accomplish this, the user gives the Web browser a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for an object on the Internet, for example, a data file containing information of interest. The document is referred to as a “Web page,” and the information contained in the Web page is called content. Web pages often refer to other Web pages using “hypertext links”, also referred to as “hyper-links”, or simply as “links”. The links are typically associated with words, phrases, or images representing the other pages in a form that gives the browser the URL for the corresponding Web page when the user selects a link.
Links are made possible by building Web pages using a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), an evolving markup language standard which is used to construct documents in a uniform, standardized format so they may be accessed by Web browsers and displayed for the user. HTML is an ASCII text-based markup language which defines page or frame formats used to display the HTML elements. To provide the hypertext linking, most documents contain “anchor” words, phrases or images. The anchors serve as visible starting points for links. The anchor, or the HTML <A> element, includes a URL that uniquely identifies the endpoint of the link, or the destination document or Web page that will be activated when the link is selected.
Once the user selects a URL for a site either directly or through a link, the URL can be used to identify a specific host computer on the Internet called a “Web Server,” along with a location of the Web page located on the Web Server. The Web browser retrieves the Web page and displays it for the user.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a common network protocol used by the browser to access and link users with various other Web pages or sites referenced by the original Web page. HTTP requires a program running on the host computer that understands and responds to the protocol or formatting of the link's content. The file retrieved might be, for example, an HTML file, a graphics file, a sound file, a PowerPoint™ file, or a word processing file. Whether the file can be retrieved or handled depends on the features and capabilities of the browser.
When a browser requests a specific URL, it sends the request to the Web server. The Web server receives the request and attempts to fill it. There are several ways the user requests can be filled. For example, Web servers can translate a request such as “http://www.recipes.com/recipes/soup.htm” into a search for a physical file on that server. It would start from the base category for the domain and then apply the path that was requested. In this example, the Web server would look for a category called “recipes” and then look for a file called “soup.htm” within that category. If the file was found it would be passed back, without modification, to the requesting browser. In this way, the URL can be thought of as a specific file sitting on a server, or host computer.
HTML can be translated from other standard generalized markup languages, such as Wireless Markup Language (WML). WML was developed by the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) Forum, which was founded by ERICSSON®, MOTOROLA®, NOKIA® and UNWIRED PLANET®. WML was developed as a global wireless protocol specification intended for use in specifying content and user interface for narrowband devices, including cellular telephones and pagers, to allow users mobile access to the resources of the Internet. WML is based on XML (extensible Markup Language).
While computer terminals and other devices that are configured to receive HTTP signals and HTML files may utilize the above methods to access and view internet data, sometimes a web page is printed as a hard copy for display purposes or as a handout and the web page loses its control information and cannot be navigated. For example, a conference organizer may print web pages including the conference schedule and distribute them to the attendees, and/or displayed on a poster. Once the conference schedule web page is printed, the web page loses its control information and the viewers cannot navigate the web page.
This disclosure provides a method and system for navigating a hard copy of a web page.